Browsing Posts tagged review

The christmas special of dr who is nearly upon us and with the season finale of dr who promises were made that the dr would be different, where previous seasons the dr had been focused on clara and had been noted by many as the worst dr of all time thing weren’t looking great when the season consisted of two parters where everyone was dead or dying one week and saved and alive the next week through increasingly absurd plot lines.

The terrible plot’s didn’t end there with the doctor increasingly breaking the fourth wall to explain plots and subtext directly to the audience in order to make the episode feasible. This was of course made worse when there was a special episode consisting of a character telling a story to the audience of sleep based creatures outside of the dr who universe being a pure work of fiction from a one time character, things were looking bad for the series and it was looking like the entire franchise was about to be ruined.

The dead/not dead plot lines continued in varying forms even revolving around the doctor dying over and over in a never ending cycle through time until he was on gallifrey at the end of time itself having gone the long way around, using up “lives” being reborn by a special technology which reset itself including his teleporter signal yet ignored the final room where he was able to chip away diamonds until the end of time quoting a parable to explain how through persistence a raven could chip away a mountain until the end of time. One major plot fault is if everything reset within the dial of the castle surely that room too would reset.

The story then began to revolve around a “hybrid” who would destroy the universe, where the doctor believed himself to be this hybrid refusing to reveal it to the timelords there have been previous hybrids throughout the series with no mention of this “prophecy” at any point, including dalek sec, the hybrid human timelord daleks, davros himself, and more that shall not be named. The problem is however that dalek caan was voiced by the same lady on gallifrey who was also in a similar prophetic role as the insane dalek who saved the daleks from the very same point of the time war as the doctor did, not to mention the problems that would ensue with the fact that both factions of the war are separately saved throughout time somewhere, this also makes the possibility that caan and the lady are bound and one with the prophecy as the cause of destruction, furthermore the story continues to the shielder maisie williams who now goes by “me” being the last survivor of the universe having traveled the long way around also, having lived every day yet maintaining human form unlike the face of bo: jack harkness who of course failed his form and eventually died.

The shielder theorized that together the prophecy of the hybrid may also be that the end of the timelords and time may not be simply one person but a hybrid of multiple people working together whether intentional or not throughout time that causes the prophecy. Of course having traveled the long way around, past even the timelords where she could have existed on gallifrey at the time and also even given birth to timelords themselves (or the doctor or even the master) she may have knowledge beyond the doctors as to exactly what happened.

While on gallifrey the doctor of course enacted the prophecy in some form, bringing back clara from the point of death freezing her in time but alive under the promise to return her to the point of death and prevent the catastrophe that would ensue by keeping her out of time. Together the shielder takes clara herself on their newly stolen tardis to travel throughout time keeping clara both dead and not dead at the same time which forgives some of the terrible plots as a hint as to clara’s inevitable condition, this even allows for further points where clara has been experienced in history without the doctors knowledge, where the doctor had been obsessed with why clara appeared throughout multiple timelines having taken her on his travels he has slowly put her into those positions, pairing with a daleks mind inside, and continuing to propagate at points in time and now travelling with the shielder dead but alive with no life signs she can return to the beginning and die (or pretend to) at the point the doctor knew her to die, and forgetting the paradoxes of the shielder existing twice in any timeline she visits due to having travelled the long way it could be any instance we see her in the future.

The ending however redeemed a lot of the series and even the terrible doctor, with him being the doctor to piss off most of the universe and wreck things through that simple action, yet being saved in the series through forgetting clara and in that instance clicking his fingers to close the tardis doors as if to show that he is the doctor to be with river song (the christmas special where this didn’t need any hint beyond the finger click) and having the chalkboard state be the doctor showing he should be more like the doctor of past and not the terrible doctor that he had been written to be in the seasons thus far of this actor; this was furthered by getting a new sonic screwdriver rather than the sonic douche glasses as though to say he is now the doctor again and not a douche.

Things yet to happen would be to save river song by giving her the sonic screwdriver with the saving facilities intact on it, the major worry is that upon giving this to her he would return to douche glasses and not have another sonic screwdriver, as terrible as the worry he would have a new tardis he could disguise as something else (maybe a blue portaloo) However he would have to meet river and her not know who he is, this would show to him it would be the last time he is alive in this form and soon to die, which would be the time for him to give her the sonic under the plan to use his regeneration energy knowing he is about to die and save everyone from the computer by using this energy to give everyone form once more including river song his fellow timelord and bring everyone back to life.

Of course this is all theory on how things would seem to play out in the universe should they not add rather silly or unusual reasons for things, and the actual plot may play out differently as I have no insider knowledge but this would be a sensible way for the series to progress with the doctor now on track and able to get viewers back under an air of a fresh start.

The Insomnia gaming festival returns this weekend with I56, renowned for its 24 hour lan gaming competitions and E sports you might want to plan your sleeping schedule to at least get a little sleep over the 3 days if you plan to attend.

With a convention showing featuring playable games and talks from game developers, sessions and talk panels with youtubers, and the well known BYOC (bring your own computer/console) tournaments there is a little something for every gamer here.

I will be attending the event and giving you more information about what is available and what you could see on the friday, but for now I would suggest if you’re into gaming and wish to take part in the competitions or even play any of the games listed you should definitely attend.

There are still details yet to be confirmed including evening entertainment, but if you wish to find out more and see a full list of youtubers you can see around the event and holding panels check out the insomnia website for full details.

I was sent a sample of the new 007 Seven fragrance to sample and provide my opinions on, other than the cool bottle and interesting spray mechanism the product itself is rather generic.

Men’s aftershave and fragrances do tend to be strong and overpowering and this at least holds back to be a more sophisticated and subtle scent but still have the usual and fairly generic male fragrance scent where you would expect a fragrance suitable for james bond to stand out and be bold.

Being a spy who is often approached and gets all of the ladies in the films you would want a unique scent perhaps more fitting to the theme, with 007 being famed for martini’s, money and cars I would expect a scent that is reminiscent of these or perhaps some of the exotic locations that bond visits in various guises. Obviously not knowing the upcoming film in depth I cannot say if it fits spectre or even attempts to, but as a fragrance for men for me it is a little generic.

Perhaps they decided to play it safe in order to appeal to the most people, with a familiar scent that wouldn’t scare people from trying it, but that isn’t bond. Bond is never one to play it safe, he always takes the risks and comes out on top and that is what I think the fragrance with his name should do.

So all in all the fragrance is pleasant enough to use, but nobody would ever smell it on you and know it was 007 seven, it could be any fragrance to someone smelling it, and as a result makes itself replaceable in purchase for any other mens fragrance in my personal opinion.

Dr who returned to our screens with season 9, and of course everyones “favourite” doctor, peter capaldi who has been commented by many people as reasons they have stopped watching the show. On top of his breaking of the fourth wall to explain a plot last season, and constantly insisting he’s cool and things he does are cool just like a dad trying to insist to his children he’s actually cool he has now gone on to break one of the majorly established elements of being a doctor.

The doctor has always had his big blue box, the tardis trapped in the guise of an old telephone box despite the fact that this is irrelevant pretty much everywhere in the universe and space time. However he has also had for some time, and especially through every incarnation of the new season his sonic screwdriver in various forms, changing this to another form of sonic was acceptable however removing the screwdriver aspect and turning them into a pair of sunglasses is about as cool as those pathetic slatted sunglasses or wearing 3d glasses in the 80/90′s and also breaks one of the main characteristics of being the doctor, changing from a sonic screwdriver is essentially the same as changing the form of the tardis from an old telephone box, especially to something as stupid and douchey as a pair of sunglasses, it’s almost as though he’s trying too hard to insist he’s cool when sunglasses aren’t really cool fashion and haven’t been for a long time, sure they’re effective for blocking the suns rays and good for helping you see in bright light, but as a fashion accessory they’re rather stupid and as a sonic tool quite stupid considering how much harder it is to put on a pair of sunglasses in order to activate something.

Perhaps had he simply kept them as an additional tool for seeing things possibly it would have been fine, but to remove the screwdriver because he doesn’t want to be seen waving a magic wand essentially around is just silly in my opinion. Let’s face it holding out the sonic screwdriver and pointing it at something or holding it up like a sword ready to use at enemies is far more impressive visually than someone putting glasses on and putting their hand to their head.

This isn’t the only fault with season 9 however, additional problems come on the fundamental plot-lines which are reminiscent of 60′s batman serials, where every episode is essentially a two parter, and for the majority either the doctor or his companions, or in the case of last week pretty much the entire of the uk were dead, and stay tuned for next week to see how what happened at the end of the episode or in the teaser doesn’t actually happen and how he’s actually alive, the world is safe and nobody was actually ever in any danger as expressed in the end scenes.

The world is currently in jeopardy, the uk has been replaced with an army of shape-shifting aliens, which actually may have turned the humans into their form as they are constantly requesting for the truth to come out and for them to have their planet and their life back (whoops is that potential spoilers, I’m no insider but that’s the obvious solution, with the feared box perhaps being the key to the transformations and to put everything right) Will it be down to the doctor escaping from a plane about to be exploded by a heat seeking missile, probably using teleportation technology held by the dr who fangirl who wears nods to his past live’s outfits and keeps photo’s of them within unit on the walls as easter eggs to see.

Maisie williams was introduced as a new immortal in the only episode to not have anyone dead at the end, sure masie died but he implanted her with a chip to make her live forever much like captain jack harkness, and the teaser there was that she would live to see the annihilation of the entire world with what appeared to be a nuclear explosion behind her. This would hint along with word that was spread that torchwood would be returned that she may be the new leader of a torchwood team for her own series, put this together with the world jeopardy and unit being destroyed the perfect opportunity for her to step in from her established position of watching over the doctor (shown during a photograph in the end of an episode with her watching behind him in a previous plot)

With the doctors sidekick deemed to be cocooned, although she could easily be infiltrating pretending to be the alien in order to foil their plot and the doctor in trouble it could come down to masie to save the day with torchwood, possibly saving the doctor then stepping in to help take back the world and prepare to launch a season of torchwood during the doctor who season break. If they do not bring masie in to do torchwood it does feel like a missed opportunity having established her as a pseudo jack, another immortal to live forever but follow the timeline never to time travel and be stuck on earth in the perfect position to defend them, having established this would prevent her going insane in her previous plotlines.

I personally think the whole everyone’s dead, oh wait they’re not dead, oh we broke the established rules of what happens when the tardis explodes but that didn’t happen, on next weeks episode we never really destroyed it bullshit rather boring and predictable and seemingly inflating deliberately false plotlines. All of this is so old fashioned and pathetic and likely to destroy the entire franchise, I would like it to go back to how it had been, with intricate well woven plots along with individual episodes that wouldn’t necessarily tie together and never having this falsely implied death principle repeating over and over every single time.

Using it on the first episode fine, but now it’s been used 4 times over this season it’s dead and buried, and don’t bring it back alive next week this is one thing you should leave dead in the ground and get on with actually writing some good episodes before you kill the entire franchise. Also get rid of the sonic sunglasses they’re as offensive as if you change the tardis to a portaloo, he might as well be flying around space time in a turdis with his douche glasses and a sonic e-cigarette with weed in to provide all the aliens a sonic e-toke and mellow them out so the only thing they wish to exterminate is the contents of the fridge… in their stomach. At least an E-spliff would be more impressive than sonic sunglasses.

I like dr who a lot, and I gave the new doctor his chance but he’s gotten progressively worse, I know it’s established he’s meant to become the enemy of the universe, but that’s meant to be in show, he’s not meant to be destroyer of the franchise, just destroyer of worlds.

I was sent a voucher to get £4 of fish from the tesco orchard, and decided to use it only on the fresh fish counter although I could have used it on any fish in the store, and see what the counter had to offer and just how fresh the produce was.

My idea initially was to find fish to use to create sushi with some sushi wrappers to make your own which you could purchase in store, however it was quickly established by the counter operative that the fish was not fresh enough for this purpose (and you could see that even though it was stored on ice obviously it was not freshly cut to order or of a suitably fresh standard) I then decided to see if they had some sashimi grade salmon, although usually served raw is ideal for lightly toasting, however having a number of varieties of salmon this was sadly lacking from the counter.

Instead I decided to them look what was on offer, along with the usual cod, haddock, several types of salmon I opted instead for the more unusual varieties, firstly trying some manta ray fin, and secondly taking a piece of rainbow trout, where there were two colours white and yellow and I opted for the yellow fleshed variety.

The manta ray fin was very large and essentially came with two portions per fin, although on bones the bones were very large and once cooked easily separated to serve a boneless and tasty white fish, not only was the fish very tasty it also had a very creamy texture while maintaining a familiar white fish cod like flavour. I think this would be a good option for battering and deep frying as not only would it taste a lot like cod but also the creamy texture would lead to a higher flavour retention against the oils coming in during the cooking process and make a very delicious fried fish option which may even be healthier as it would likely minimize the oils being absorbed.

The rainbow trout variety I chose surprised me quite a bit as it tasted like a high quality cooked salmon, which is usually hard to get to this standard even with a high quality cut. As a result this would be an option for anyone wishing to have the high quality salmon flavour with little effort and would also save a lot of money, sure you would have to deal with some bones and a softer flesh which breaks apart easier, but for the convenience and ease of cooking for the same flavour I believe this is a suitable compromise to make

Over all I think it is a little disappointing that the counter isn’t as fresh as it might put accross, had I not asked the counter operative I would have assumed that any fish purchased would have been suitably fresh to make sushi with and possibly risked food poisoning as a result, and the varieties on offer were average, but you can understand that most people would be seeking the “usual range” of cod and haddock and salmons that were displayed, as opposed to seeking something different or special, but there was the manta fin as a little excitement and something different so it also caters a little towards that. I just wish that there was the option to get a truly fresh product if requested, that the fishmonger could cut a fresh fish right then and there suitable for creating sushi with, or freshly cut upon request for those who want a freshly cut slice of fish, while leaving the display for those who wish it and don’t have the truly fresh requirements.

Other than the “fresh” issues the counter is a nice option and good to go to if you want some advice or to try something a little new, and perhaps may be fresher than the shelved produce. Either way you can have a free garlic or chilli butter to cook your fish with so there are bonuses to visiting, and if you like fish I think you should consider looking at the fresh counter first in case something catches your eye.

Albedo: Eyes from outer space is a first person puzzle based horror game themed around the old cheesy B-Movies and space opera’s of early television production, the game immerses you into such an experience with the authentic old sounds used along with a typical style of inherent threat coming from the tentacle clad eye’s which are an immediate threat from the outset.

The gameplay itself involves object hunting around the rooms while trying to find out how to use those particular items (or maybe some you’ve missed in previous rooms) to traverse to the next location all the time trying to avoid becoming a victim of the eyes which have come from outer space.

The puzzles can often be obscure and sometimes frustrating if you believe you’ve found the solution or checked everything, but sometimes things will require a closer look or a re-visit after you have set up previous steps, but as puzzle games go this one isn’t designed to simply walk you through and feel good about yourself for completing highly signposted routes, instead you feel a part of the scene actually trawling through everything fighting to find your way out, and perhaps feeling more rewarded for persisting and finding the hard solution. Progress may be slow but you’ll feel like you’ve definitely earnt your escape when you do make it out.

Firstly I must apologize for the quality of the video, the poor lighting required me to up the brightness so things are visible which has caused everything to become rather pixelated like a computer game, and the audio has an echo due to the noise removal technique and amplification required to eliminated the crowd noises, which is why when I am not directly facing the camera some of my audio becomes non existent.

Guitar hero live is a change in direction for the usually cartoon sprite based game, where instead of watching computer characters perform on stage in the background while you play along to the tune instead behind the familiar riff line is a live stage and support band who react based upon how well you are playing the track.

Other significant changes to the game are the actual way you play, which involves a dual 3 button strip with black and white controls, helpfully hinted at on screen with up and down buttons om case you forget which side is which. With a little adapting this seems a lot easier to use than the 5 button system, so even though you are essentially playing with extra buttons this will feel like less.

I do like the new style and the new opportunities it could provide but I think they really missed out by not having a full 8 button swing to utilize all 4 fingers, or even having the duplicated 5 buttons players will be use to but with a dual line system in place allowing for some very difficult routines to be established. Gone is however the tap strumming bar some players will have adapted to which provided a fun way of playing the game along with extra manipulation of the sounds, and activating star power becomes more difficult with the higher positioning of the buttons on the neck of the controller. Sure there is a button to activate star power but this is never the most effective way to use the power, and it isn’t in a convenient location.

Further changes to the game are the facts that it is planned that any further releases will not require a purchase of another game and instead will come as purchasable or rent-able content providing access to any new tunes in a variety of genre’s for example without having to purchase a “Metallica” special guitar hero game. Also for those who wish to compete live there will be a guitar hero live channel where people at home can play along with other players worldwide on the same live track, at present there have been no plans to include a live leaderboard however I think this would be the ideal social situation to provide live results for all players partaking in the live track and provide the ultimate bragging rights topping the live leaderboard broadcast to everyone currently watching that channel.

The game itself will have made up bands playing actual songs so you will always feel like part of the band, and the audience will react to your playing prowess, if you’re doing well they will cheer for more whilst terrible play will result in objects being thrown at you as you play with boo’s and jeers.

I think this is an interesting direction and some good improvements to the genre as actually feeling like you’re on stage and playing adds to the immersion of the game, perhaps having a more transparent riff bar could make things better as the audience and band are obscured a lot of the time.

Little is known about the competitive aspects of the game as yet, as often the same track gets chosen in competitions where the longest possible track provides the best score and is repeated by every single team, a change to this system competitively might make things more fun, perhaps requiring a mini set of 3 short songs to feel more like a proper band and completely eliminating all ridiculously long songs from competitions, or even having all songs have a similar point limit perhaps boosted with freestyle flourishes enabled via star power at the appropriate times, I have no idea how star power works in the game as I could not get the controller to trigger this despite vertically lifting the guitar at any time.

Another interesting aspect for scoring might be if the accelerometers in the controller responded to how you flourished and moved about on stage to incorporate “stage presence” into the scoring system to provide those truly representing on stage and not just playing the tunes the biggest and best scores, but this could always be something to consider for future releases.

As it stands I would definitely recommend a purchase for any guitar hero fan as all of the changes are definitive improvements and go beyond simply releasing further tracks with a whole new play style to master.

Day one of EGX 2015 drew to a close, after a long wait at the early entry queue while a video played we eventually got onto the show to have quick look around before I had a day of booked up sessions with developers and press, many of who’m have stated that they will send screenshots and game codes, but obviously not in time for such a quick article as this. I will be focusing on a few of them in detail either in the main article or in their own separate game-play and review articles as necessary.

I started off the show having a play on the upcoming rock band, which I will go into detail more about in the later video. Sufficed to say it is a fun experience and quite easy to grasp the new 6 key system, although a few changes to the controller itself will be missed such as the strum board, and the gimmick of playing live on stage is a much better on screen experience than the usual cartoonish feel of the game.

After this I hit up the playstation and xbox one zones, checking out what they individually had to offer. The xbox area was spread out with separate queue’s for each section and a collectors card system to win a prize if you can play in all segments much like playstation had the previous year. While the playstation zone was very different having a sealed section with queue’s for the games side by side and a few set props visitors could pose for photo’s with.

I had a little time to check out the latest assassins creed, where I decided to try and do everything within the mission parameters within the time limit, failing as I seemed to despawn one of the allies I had and spending far too long attempting to track down his location, even with eagle eye highlighting character locations this proved impossible. The mechanic to essentially zip line between locations made traversing without getting spotted pretty much a predetermined fact, however when it came to the actual free running element I found that you were often stopping where you expected the character to jump off the small ledge as the system appears to have been adapted in a manner that jumping from ledges is not permitted whether you would take damage or not, and jumping while free running is entirely impossible.

This method doesn’t feel as satisfying and correct as previous games, and sometimes when you come to the end of a path you’re running through you find you end up jumping to the side or a path you never intended to and have to go out of your way to get back down to the floor. Other than these factors though the game felt smooth and like a typical assassins creed game, hard to see what other new mechanics there are by such a short demonstration.

I arrived early to the press zone so took the opportunity to watch the latest hitman footage, where it is stated you will travel in varying locations across the world taking out hits on characters in any way you see fit, with a variety of methods depending on your stealth, cunning, patience and exploration of the level you can execute each hit a significant number of different methods, from straight hit and run to downright perfect execution planting c4 on the stage-lights and influencing factors to get the target in question onto the stage to fall victim of a “tragic accident” while you’re in the crowd where it couldn’t possibly be you that caused his death. The developers want you to feel powerful as agent 47 able to use disguises to gain entrance to different area’s and only area’s established for the specific uniforms and that you could essentially roleplay as each of those for as long as you aren’t discovered. A good feature is that the supervisor (or gang leader, or whatever is relevant) of the particular group you’re dressed up as gets highlighted on the map, so you can be sure to avoid that particular person as they will be able to instantly identify you as incorrect knowing all of their staff. It isn’t clear if you can become said leader by using their uniform as yet.

After this I spent the entire day in pre-booked sessions, starting out by playing a press competition of eternal step, a game I will be looking forward to showing you separately, an action rogue-like where you collect treasure cards which you use at the end of each floor to discard or modify your equipment in order to progress as far as possible before inevitable failure (or possibly success when the game is completed and has an ending.) The game is very fun and can get very challenging when you’re running low on hp with no potions, I made it to the first boss on floor 20 before inevitably failing, but I did set the record where other press have only managed around floor 11 and 12 at most.

The rest of the day was spent around the indie gaming section playing on sublevel zero which I had to get out there as involved in the team is phi from tinykeep, and the game itself is a challenging homage to decent with additional elements such as crafting your weapons and modifying your ship as it stands it is a very difficult game with sprawling procedurally generated worlds.

After this I played a space station management sim which I proceeded to break and another point and click adventure which again broke, don’t forget that a lot of these games are early in development and not fully finished so you can expect all of these issues to be resolved upon full release, after this I had a session with riot: civil unrest which was an interesting riot simulator which rather ambitiously provides each individual crowd member with their own ai and adaptive ai which responds to how you have acted throughout the game, so crowds get more frenzied if your police force are heavy handed and have a bad reputation, but also adapt to how they have individually been treated so at this state it currently allows for around 10 minutes of playtime before the game crashes, this will be fixed in time for a full release and additional factors such as vehicles and more gameplay modes will be activated but it is definitely an interesting concept to keep an eye out for, which I shall hopefully bring you more on as it progresses.

After this I had a session booked with pollen, a space simulator in virtual reality on a station on a moon on titan, however as the queue’s were busy I only got to play for 5 minutes before being ushered off despite booking a session which was said to last for 30 minutes in the email so I cannot tell you much about the game itself unfortunately, I have emailed the developer but have yet to receive a response.

I’m not sure if I covered this in the video but I did get to play on rise of the tomb raider at the end as well, when I had a problem attempting to leave the first area I had to ask for help, because it had not been tutorialised that you needed to shoot blocks of concrete to destroy them on spikes, which appeared to be the largest unbreakable part so even with experimenting I shot at the cracked wood, the thin pillar it was attached to and everything but the large and in reality least likely to break part of the blockage.

The representative stated that they wanted to have a more “dark souls” experience not providing any information to the player, however this seemed a major blockage not only to progress but attempting to enjoy the demo. Thankfully after this I was able to progress and even found for myself a hint button essentially listening to lara’s heart (as it beat a heart while giving a slight hint to the solution highlighted with a vocal cue) however the platforming elements proved very awkward, as many of the scenery elements which were climbable looked identical to those which you could never climb, and a lot of the action came down to quicktime events rather than actual fun gameplay elements. I had hoped this would be a return to more of the original tomb raider elements however I was left disappointed simply with the way the platforming and navigation of the rooms worked, being unable to climb onto pillars and surfaces that were completely reachable, not being able to climb the same ribbed wall as you climb elsewhere just because that isn’t the path to progress, and ultimately black screening the game as perhaps I passed the time limit being stuck in the first room for 5 minutes before asking for help because the very factor to destroy the blockage was never tutorialised or hinted at.

On the way out of the show with things closing I managed to get a quick play on total war arena, which if you enjoy the total war franchise is a much simplified version of the game, with point and click ordering of troops, activatable powers and real time online multiplayer in 10vs10 action. Troop customization and leveling occurs outside of the actual gameplay to make combat quick and fun with no pausing or problems and meaning that real time adjustments to all of your troops in a quick and efficient manner is a must.

I will have a much more in depth review of the actual show in a separate article and a few of the games I will be able to bring to you in much more detail in their own reviews also, so watch this space for more.

I got sent some vouchers to try the bioglan superfoods range new in tesco for free, one in particular had to be used on the 100% raw organic cacao and the other was for £4.99 on any other product in the range, from the choices at that price I chose the chia + Flax seed product, which at 100g only half filled the package, it is worth noting that the £9.99 super-greens range doesn’t give double the quantity instead coming in at a lowly 70g compared to the 100g of product in those I chose, which definitely feels ridiculous and a hefty case of misleading packaging.

After getting the products themselves I have no problems with the actual products, they deliver what they state although the portion sizes it recommends seems rather ridiculous adding 2 teaspoons of cacao or chia+flax becomes rather overpowering very quickly, and at 1/10th of the product it uses it up very quickly. Instead I would recommend 1 teaspoon per use as an ideal flavour adding technique rather than overpowering your dish with whatever you’re adding.

I tried the cacao in a few different dishes, and found it rather bitter at the quantities stating needing some added sugar in equal quantities to make the food edible after use, but I can understand the health benefits being put across, a major problem I have however is that you can get 250g of cocoa powder from tesco for £1.99 not only 2.5X the quantity but also significantly less than half price, so essentially you could get around 6 times the quantity for the same price, of course there is the debate on wether cocoa or cacao are the same thing, the “organic” debate, when it’s an organic product itself, and the “added value” of a brand, I do not personally place much relevance on a brand when it comes to a food product, and you’ll get the same health benefits and taste for simply using the standard cocoa product.

When it comes to the flax this was very difficult to decide how to use, with it recommended to be used in smoothies and a few other products I would never use it in, as granular smoothies are really disgusting. Instead I used it as a coating to some burgers, which as it states itself as a vegan protein source could be considered sacrilege. However you think of it this made a very tasty coating, giving the burgers a good crisp surface and a nice added flavour combination behind the bite. Other uses I considered were adding it to some cereal, but with the nature of the product it would have to be with either wheetabix or a granola cereal of some sort so the seeds themselves do not just float and clump together in what could be a not very nice experience. The final option would be to add to a curry base, again this would cook away some of the “goodness” portrayed in eating the product raw but at least would make an edible product.

With the chia and flax seeds as well I think there are more convenient and cheaper sources of vegan protein also, which if you’re purchasing this as your mainstay the quantities of protein you would require would become a very expensive matter indeed if you were relying upon the bioglan range to be your entire source of protein, instead as a healthy person you would choose the other options in order to be able to survive and have money for other foods, rent and your bills, and would not purchase these products as a daily essential.

Personally I cannot find how these would become a mainstay of a healthy routine, and if you’re looking for the health benefits alone then there are other cheaper options for exactly the same benefits and same or if not very similar products, as especially you can get 1k of chia seeds for £9.99 immediately upon a simple google search, and a kilo of flax for £3.99 all organic, getting a grinder to powderize them would be a simple matter indeed. You would have to be a particular fan of the bioglan brand in order to wish to purchase these on a regular basis.

I have to wonder if the range is being introduced to tesco as the bioglan range itself is struggling to make money in this economy with other options for the same products being available far cheaper elsewhere, and this attempt to gain a new customer base would even work, what I can say is that when I went to purchase my 100g raw organic cacao all of the products on the shelves having their “anti tampering” seals opened would have prevented me from buying this as a regular customer, and it was only because I had the voucher and the requirement to try this that I purchased these, as with them open I would have never taken them even if I wanted to pay that price simply because anything could have happened to the products and anything could have been placed in the powder, or even scraped off the floor from a spillage back into the product or whatever else your mind can come to.

Personally I would not purchase any bioglan products instead opting for the cheaper alternatives of the same products, because again although they are good and tasty and have uses, and health benefits the price itself rules itself out of the market, on a compound scale 2k of chia+flax is £100, when you can get it for basically £15 on a lazy first search result online price which if you shopped around you could probably find even cheaper.

Life is strange episode 4: Dark room continues where episode 3 left off, in an alternate timeline where chloe’s father is still alive and the consequences on reality that have occurred as a result of this single change.

Things in the new timeline are very different, effecting not only those around us but also max herself with her now being part of the vortex club and close friends with both nathan prescott and victoria chase. Although the game sends alternate texts on max’s phone (contradicting the fact that things held in max’s possession during time travel do not alter) we never get to explore what we could find out in our newly altered position instead spending the entire day with chloe and her unfortunate situation resulting from a car crash she never had when her father died in a car accident himself originally. This whole situation is creating heavy financial burden on her parents and a situation she wishes to leave in this timeline. A problem I had here, other than being forced to make a hefty decision which would have no consequence on our main timeline was the fact that after you have made the decision to either end her life or not you have such a long wait before you’re able to continue possibly forcing you to alter your decision feeling like the game pushed you one way or another, this has been fixed so the wait isn’t so ridiculously long now but at the time caused problems as I wanted a different decision to I ended up taking.

The rest of the episode revolves around obtaining evidence and finally chasing down whoever is responsible for rachel amber’s disappearance with far more vigor than has ever been placed into investigating before, which is unusual considering the timeline for the natural disaster being mere days away all effort goes into this rather than finding out what will cause the natural disasters being given via premonitions by max. Whether you’ve saved kate or not has little effect at this point in time, with her simply providing a text location for nathan’s room which you could find naturally and a minor visit where she appears happy and well now things have passed on a little.

Around the story you find a lot of clues which all seem heavily forced towards pointing at the prescott’s regardless of what evidence you’ve uncovered from previous episodes, what you’ve personally noticed, and who you blamed to the principal all have little effect when it comes to deciphering the information you gather. Although there are hints towards other people in all of the evidence factors you are forced to choose those which implicate nathan in order to progress, where I would have chased jefferson based on how he pushed kate onto the roof with his conversation just prior, and the dodgy phone-call he received just afterwards with a third party which wasn’t nathan who was in class talking to victoria at the time, and the fact that all of the facts we had gathered pointed to tw1np3aks car rather than nathan’s sex offender car that although it looks the same was not the car responsible with some noticeable differences.

Of course I’m not stating nathan had no involvement as he was being initiated into the ways by jefforson, but there are also severe disconsistencies with the fact that chloe woke up in nathan’s room after her attack and not in the dark room where evidently kate and rachel were taken, and how the farm bunker has nathan driving there but also how the paperwork scattered everywhere has bills from the prescotts but also letters to the prescotts in a contradicting manner scattered everywhere carelessly as though planted for evidence.

Another major inconsistency and problem is that in the photo with nathan and rachel either both are dead, or unconscious from drugs and it is not questioned who would be taking the photo so perfectly staged and arranged, yet after this nathan is seen in a photo burying her dead body, again by a third party. Nathan has disappeared by this point, likely after the confrontation with warren running to jefferson in a rage demanding something be done and possibly being taken care of or locked up in the dark room at the very least, yet we continue to receive text messages at least possibly from jefforson using his phone, but still making the timeline obscurities unusual.

On to the overarching factor of the coming apocalypse and how we awoke on the path to the lighthouse in the very first episode, previously it has been noted that this could all be part of a dream state while unconscious in the tornado itself but with the ending of this episode getting drugged by jefferson, far from being a first aider calling for max to “stay with me” while in the rewind it could actually be that the entire time we have been locked in the basement or unconscious on the path to the lighthouse dumped by jefferson after being used and abused. So there are alternatives for what is possibly going on and how we will see the ending pan out, but still fits the theme of reliving the events up to this moment in a way max’s brain can comprehend, inventing the time travel ability to explain being in the past up to this traumatic event rather than simply daydreaming the entire thing as we regain consciousness.

I look forward to seeing how episode 5 polarized turns out, and whether or not we will retain our rewind time travel abilities or if these will be gone, explained as being under the influence of drugs as opposed to the entire thing being made up in our heads, and whether everything we’ve done to this point truly has an influence as although some factors changed overall the whole point of trying to have things have a real meaning seems to have been missed overall. And will we ever find this missing laptop with cat pictures?